New Zealand traffic down as “three strikes” copyright law takes effect

Two New Zealand ISPs report that their traffic is down after that country's …

Two New Zealand ISPs have reported falling traffic after that nation's controversial new "three strikes" copyright enforcement legislation went into effect at the start of the month. Kiwi Internet users may have been spooked by the threat of fines as high as NZ$15,000.

The New Zealand ISP Orcon has said that international traffic into New Zealand has dropped by about 10 percent since last week. Speaking to to the New Zealand Herald, Orcon's chief executive Scott Bartlett said that peer-to-peer file sharing represents the second-largest source of traffic after video streaming.

TelstraClear, another major New Zealand ISP, has also reported a drop in traffic, although a spokesman said he wasn't sure if it was related to the new copyright law. A third firm, Telecom New Zealand, says it hasn't noticed a drop in traffic.

The New Zealand law was passed earlier this year, and places the burden of proof on accused file-sharers; repeat offenders can face fines of up to NZ$15,000. The government also has an option to impose Internet disconnections of up to six months as a penalty for repeat infringement.

New Zealand network operators say they have yet to receive any complaints under the new "three strikes" system, but they expect complaints to start rolling in soon.

In June, the New Zealand government signed a statement condemning "three strikes" policies that deprive copyright infringers of Internet access, calling such laws a violation of human rights.

Timothy B. Lee
Timothy covers tech policy for Ars, with a particular focus on patent and copyright law, privacy, free speech, and open government. His writing has appeared in Slate, Reason, Wired, and the New York Times. Emailtimothy.lee@arstechnica.com//Twitter@binarybits

>The New Zealand law was passed earlier this year, and places the burden of proof on accused file-sharers; repeat offenders can face fines of up to NZ$15,000.How do you prove you weren't file-sharing? You can only prove you were, not you weren't.

Presumably the entire kiwi GDP is made of sheep, with a GDP of $126.680B (according to Google Public Data) and 39 million sheep (according to some website I found talking about sheep) that works out at $3,248 per sheep.

The New Zealand ISP Orcon has said that international traffic into New Zealand has dropped by about 10 percent since last week

You're misquoting. If you actually read what he said, you will see that international peer-to-peer traffic is down 10%, not 10% of all international traffic.

From people I know who work for ISPs, they say that P2P is down, but other traffic (including VPN, SSL, and HTTP) is up by a similar amount. I doubt people will let their data caps go to waste, so they're just switching to new methods of downloading...

The New Zealand ISP Orcon has said that international traffic into New Zealand has dropped by about 10 percent since last week

You're misquoting. If you actually read what he said, you will see that international peer-to-peer traffic is down 10%, not 10% of all international traffic.

From people I know who work for ISPs, they say that P2P is down, but other traffic (including VPN, SSL, and HTTP) is up by a similar amount. I doubt people will let their data caps go to waste, so they're just switching to new methods of downloading...

The New Zealand ISP Orcon has said that international traffic into New Zealand has dropped by about 10 percent since last week

You're misquoting. If you actually read what he said, you will see that international peer-to-peer traffic is down 10%, not 10% of all international traffic.

From people I know who work for ISPs, they say that P2P is down, but other traffic (including VPN, SSL, and HTTP) is up by a similar amount. I doubt people will let their data caps go to waste, so they're just switching to new methods of downloading...

Which is exactly what happened in France.

Yep, also why TPB boys opened up a cyberlocker site (even though there were a gazillian already out there).

VPN accounts are cheap, we pay around 340kr (around $50US) per month and adding 50kr a month to that for a VPN feels like we are just paying a bit more for internet-just a more secure one.

Hoping this will stop filesharers is like throwing frogs in water and hoping they will drown.

I live in New Zealand and because the writers of this law totally fail at understanding the internet they have said that it only applies to P2P downloads and things like file lockers like 4shared still have to be taken through the courts using the original copywrite laws (although i have read the act and can't see how it enforces that so this might not stand up in court, I think it was just said by MP's but might not be totally written in law...), until this is contested i have simply shifted all my downloading to file lockers its slower and a bit less convenient but it works fine for me

As a NZer, my P2P downloading came to a halt on Aug 31. Although I only download the occasional sheep. Ironically, due to the law, my sheep downloading increases about 1500% during July/Aug as I stocked up, so to speak..

I'd say most techies aren't with Telecom. My Granny and Aunts probably are, but they still get their sheep the old fashioned way

Why do you have a picture of kids playing baseball? Kids don't play baseball here in New Zealand, it's a very uncommon sport.

Yes, my downloading has significantly decreased since the new law. I wish I had something like Hulu or Netflix here in NZ, but alas I'm forced to get my digital content illegally, and now even that's not an option.

Why do you have a picture of kids playing baseball? Kids don't play baseball here in New Zealand, it's a very uncommon sport.

Yes, my downloading has significantly decreased since the new law. I wish I had something like Hulu or Netflix here in NZ, but alas I'm forced to get my digital content illegally, and now even that's not an option.

As a NZer, my P2P downloading came to a halt on Aug 31. Although I only download the occasional sheep. Ironically, due to the law, my sheep downloading increases about 1500% during July/Aug as I stocked up, so to speak..

I'd say most techies aren't with Telecom. My Granny and Aunts probably are, but they still get their sheep the old fashioned way

Except the monitoring started on Aug 11th.

They just weren't allowed to start sending out the warnings until Sept 1st.

Except in the most extreme cases, the average citizen has no real way to prove he didn't do something. That's basically a law stating if you are accused, you are guilty; just suck it up and take the sentencing.

Why bother having laws then? Why bother having lawyers and courts. Why don't we just have an office of the inquistion that is all powerful, able to judge, jury and execute. Then this Inquisition would be beholden to its patrons (peopl ewith money and influence) to carry out its patrons' bidding.

Wait a second, they passed the laws in April, then in June said they condemn them and they infringe on human rights? That doesn't make sense.

National party passed the copyright law under urgency. The actual urgency was to do with Christchurch quake relief. This law was going nowhere under public debate, special interests saw a chance and took it.

So basically NZ looks schizophrenic on the world stage. You got to love the calibre of governance in this country!

Except in the most extreme cases, the average citizen has no real way to prove he didn't do something. That's basically a law stating if you are accused, you are guilty; just suck it up and take the sentencing.

Why bother having laws then? Why bother having lawyers and courts. Why don't we just have an office of the inquistion that is all powerful, able to judge, jury and execute. Then this Inquisition would be beholden to its patrons (peopl ewith money and influence) to carry out its patrons' bidding.

Wait a second, they passed the laws in April, then in June said they condemn them and they infringe on human rights? That doesn't make sense.

National party passed the copyright law under urgency. The actual urgency was to do with Christchurch quake relief. This law was going nowhere under public debate, special interests saw a chance and took it.

So basically NZ looks schizophrenic on the world stage. You got to love the calibre of governance in this country!

1) Labour kicked it off with S92A2) Labour dropped it because there were too much opposition.3) Put under "consultation".4) Passed under Christchurch earthquake emergency bill with National and Labour as major backers.5) Helen Clark, NZ UN envoy condemns draconian copyright law.6) Monitoring started at 11th August. Silently.7) Condemnation starts mounting.8) Labour abandons ship and claims they will repeal the law IF they are in power.

bah it won't be too long before they try to prosecute the wrong person and bring it up directly into the public eye, the government then lose face, it goes to the tribunals which bowing to public pressure repel the law. (The Judge do have the burden of apparent justice meaning they have to issue verdicts that make sense to the general population).

Wait a second, they passed the laws in April, then in June said they condemn them and they infringe on human rights? That doesn't make sense.

National party passed the copyright law under urgency. The actual urgency was to do with Christchurch quake relief. This law was going nowhere under public debate, special interests saw a chance and took it.

So basically NZ looks schizophrenic on the world stage. You got to love the calibre of governance in this country!

1) Labour kicked it off with S92A2) Labour dropped it because there were too much opposition.3) Put under "consultation".4) Passed under Christchurch earthquake emergency bill with National and Labour as major backers.5) Helen Clark, NZ UN envoy condemns draconian copyright law.6) Monitoring started at 11th August. Silently.7) Condemnation starts mounting.8) Labour abandons ship and claims they will repeal the law IF they are in power.

Actually what kicked it off was the US government waiving money under Kiwi politicians noses (if wikileaks is to be believed).

Also point 7, since when has that stopped NZ politicians doing any thing that they think is in their best interests? Point 8 one word for that "elections".